It could just be that most cats are a bit on the fat side while this one doesn't seem over-fed. I regularly see it with small furry things dangling from its mouth so the owner is clearly feeding just the right amount - enough to give energy, but not so much that the cat lazes around rather than hunting. I've no objection to the local mouse population being wiped out as they get into everything and chew stuff just to see if they like it!

The eye contact has more to do with the noise I think. I have a few B&W shots of this cat from the MX, every time I pressed the shutter she flinched visibly!

Goes for most lenses in my experience, the main difference is that with better lenses you can use larger apertures before the softness gets annoying.

Here's the moggy mentioned earlier:




Hard to get a better photo as she won't sit still for more than a few seconds. This one was taken when she decided to sit on my car roof and have a wash!

"User error" seems to be a stock response by the incompetent in many industries. Just look at how many car faults are claimed to be driver error. In a pre-internet age they would have been able to dodge complaints that way, but now people can see how many others have exactly the same problem it's about time this blame-the-user attitude disappeared!

I think it depends on where you are geographically and what stage your career has reached.

I doubt the photographers for Evo magazine get out of bed for the rates suggested there, but if you try to charge similar rates to your local paper they'll just laugh. While I agree with the sentiment that everyone needs to charge a similar amount in order to preserve hard-won pay scales it is very difficult to convince clients to pay a relative beginner the same rates as an experienced pro, no matter how good your portfolio.

If we're after cute animals I will have to put the photo I took of our visiting cat up. I've no idea what breed it is but I think it's a mix of Siamese and standard moggy, the result is friendly, inquisitive, very talkative and with an amazingly expressive tail which gets thwacked against anything in range. You pretty much get jumped on for attention with two paws planted on your leg and a loud mew!

It lives a couple of hundred metres or so away and seems to turn up here as part of a tour of nearby houses. Never wants food but purrs loud enough to rattle the windows if given some fuss.

Quite possibly, I think she's been to a few of them!

I know someone who made a pair of earrings from squirrel tails. Mind you I've also known her convert small bird skulls into hairclips...

I should perhaps note that all wildlife involved was found dead rather than killed for the purpose!

Oooh, K2DMD... *drools*

I do keep my eyes open for a black K2. Dad's got a chrome one so there's not much point my duplicating it. The K2DMD does get you the aperture indicator window and motor wind connections though...

I do tend to have two lenses covering most ranges. One is a cheap and plentiful type for situations where I'd be worried about it getting damaged, the other is usually slightly rarer and slightly nicer for safer scenarios.